Download Accelerator

Following a recommendation in a national newspaper technology column, I installed Download Accelerator. While it does what it says, it installs spyware on the PC which Spybot 1.3 identifies but cannot remove.
Consequently, I attempted to uninstall the program - but the uninstaller says the install log is missing. Since I have not removed any installation logs I assume that the program does not want to be uninstalled and is having a laugh.
How can I a) remove the spyware and/or [img]/forums/images/smilies/cool.gif[/img] remove the program, please?
TIA

Re: Download Accelerator

I've had this problem previously when my spyware detectors remove parts of the offending program. Then, Add/Remove programs will not work. I have had success by reinstalling the program (Download Accelerator) and then uninstalling it through Add/Remove programs. This site also gives comprehensive details on how to manually remove the program. Hope this helps.

JohnA Child's Mind, Once Stretched by Imagination...Never Regains Its Original Dimensions

Re: Download Accelerator

I've gone down this path with "rogue" software before. I've found the registry cleaning to be less daunting, using a regclean tool like JV16 Power Tools. Many of the offending entries appear as errors, once the files themselves have been deleted, and can be selected and removed "en masse". I guess you still have to end up doing some sort of manual checking though.

Re: Download Accelerator

Hi Rebel
Thanks for the help. Sorry for the delay; was away over the weekend and then ISP has been playing up so no email or ability to get to the internet.
The site you pointed me to is very comprehensive, but I am very dense so do not understand a lot of their file addresses eg programfilesdir+, profilepath+, commonprograms+, desktopdir+
Can you assist with decodes for these on my W2K machine, please?
Also, are you recommeding that I should download the latest DAP because it will then uninstall?
Finally, my real worry is that by getting rid of this horror, it will have screwed up IE so I am left with no download capability at all. Is that likely and, if so, what preventative steps can I take to stop it?
Silverback

Re: Download Accelerator

Can't help you with the location of these files on your machine, but they shouldn't be too hard to find. Eg. programfilesdir probably refers to Program Files, etc. If you can't resolve these, then you may have to search for the files in question (tedious and lengthy, but necessary). As well, you will note that not all of the referenced files may have been installed.

As far as the reinstallation of DA, I am just going by my own experience in the past. While cleaning up a friend's machine, I ran Spybot, Ad-Aware, etc. and they removed parts, but not all of the offending programs. Upon seeing that parts of the programs were still active, I attempted an uninstall. But, because parts of the program had been removed, uninstall would not work. At this point, I decided to reinstall. After reinstallation, I then uninstalled (successful using Add/Remove programs) and then let Ad-Aware, Spybot, etc. clean up any remnants. In a few cases, I also had to manually remove components.

I think your worry about damaging the download capabilities of IE is unfounded. If, by some chance however this does happen, you can always do a "Repair" install of XP. This will not overwrite any of your programs, settings, etc. - will just repair any damaged parts of XP including IE. Hope this helps.

Re: Download Accelerator

Hi Rebel
Thanks again for your helpful comments.
I found an option on DAP - Diasable Browser Integration - so I went to a download site and tried a download. This, of course, invoked DAP. I then used the disable option and tried again. This time, the IE downloader was initiated, so I think it should be possible to get back to using IE until I can get Leechget (thanks again Tony55) into operation. I use W2k, not XP, but I don't think this shoudl cause a problem. (famous last words)
I have tried searching for a large number of the files detailed in that incredibly helpful PestPatrol page, but with not a lot of success and in any case, I'm nervous about such large scale messing with the registry, so the long and the short of it is that I am going to buy PestPatrol and let it deal with the <img src=/w3timages/censored.gif alt=censored border=0> thing. I'm just glad that someone can remove it.
I despise spyware producers and users with a vengeance. I understand that, if I want to use their product I might have to put up with spyware as part of the licence, but there can be no justification for leaving the junk around after the programme has been removed.
May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their armpits!

Re: Download Accelerator

Along with there being no excuse for leaving the spyware behind when removing the product, there's also no excuse IMO for not disclosing up front that the product will install the spyware. Some products do but most that I've seen hide their 'disclosure' in the bowels of the EULA. If they disclose it at all.